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Ed's Blog

We've been working hard to oppose a bill that would weaken the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. You remember, that's the law passed in the wake of the second-biggest financial collapse in our history, caused by Wall Street recklessness. The bill has massive support from both Wall Street and community banks. S2155 is on the Senate floor this week. It has enough Democratic votes to pass the Senate, but consumer champions are fighting back. Read our opposition letter.

The bi-partisan bill, S2155, the so-called “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act," led by Mike Crapo (ID) and Mark Warner (VA), rolls back big bank safety and soundness rules and exempts 85% of all banks from compliance with laws protecting consumers from mortgage fraud, racial discrimination and other consumer protections. In an effort to supposedly balance the bill's deregulatory bent, it includes a weak free credit freeze provision that preempts stronger state law efforts.

As we noted in a recent news release, the states are doing great work on updating their freeze laws to make them free for everybody. Preemption favors the goals of powerful special interests over those of consumers and victims of Equifax and other breaches.